


Bowstring

by triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)



Series: FullmoonFiclet Entries [57]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Cupid - Freeform, Gen, Hale family deaths mentioned, Laura mention, demons mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 17:03:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8761609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/triggeringthehealing
Summary: It’s not the first time that the thought has crossed Derek’s mind. He’s sure it won’t be the last time either, and it won’t be only in his head. He overheard others saying the same, without pointing out how Derek is decidedly not good at what he does.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Full Moon Ficlet]() challenge on Livejournal - prompt #201: arrow

_ Laura was good at this _ .

It’s not the first time that the thought has crossed Derek’s mind. He’s sure it won’t be the last time either, and it won’t be only in his head. He overheard others saying the same, without pointing out how Derek is decidedly  _ not _ good at what he does. What he’s supposed to do. 

The string on his bow vibrates like it always does when it’s time, and Derek pulls out another arrow, then sighs. His eyes scan the area, look at the students who are flooding the parking lot since the bell announced the end of classes a short while earlier. There are too many people to pinpoint easily where he’s meant to be aiming, so he sets up the arrow and pulls back the string. Then, with the bow primed to shoot, he turns the point at the crowd, his whole body attuning to the vibrations that come from the bowstring. 

He can feel the red string tethered to the end of the arrow, winding around his wrist and then out, fading into invisibility only inches from his arm. It’s warm, pulsing with a heartbeat, and Derek knows that the other side is attached already, anchored in a body that, judging by the strength of the beat, isn’t far away. Derek knows that it makes sense, that it’s understandable that a connection would be made in the same place. He also knows that high school sweetheart romances are rare. 

Despite that, he’s not feeling in any way special about today, about doing what he’s about to do. He should, he’s been told enough that while the work can be mundane at times, he’s bringing joy into people’s lives. And because of where he is it should feel like an extraordinary day, the start of something that will last longer than most of these connections. 

The bow’s vibrations intensify and then stop entirely all of a sudden, and Derek lets go. He can see the arrow flying through the air and he feels the string unwind from his wrist as it follows in the arrow’s wake. Then, all of a sudden, the string starts splitting at the visible end, separates into two all the way to the arrow’s end. Derek’s eyes widen in shock, and he immediately wonders if he’s done something wrong. It’s never happened before, and he’s left to watch as the arrow splits in two, each half changing course just a tiny bit. 

When they hit it’s at the same time, their targets two boys who are walking side by side, oblivious to what happened. Of course they don’t; it’s only Derek who is still watching, noticing how the strings go all taut outwards from the boys’ hearts, winding back together into one. The entire length is now visible, and Derek follows the red line to the other side of the parking lot, where a girl is slipping into a car. 

The boys part ways, neither of them looking like they want much to do with each other, and the red string begins to fade in front of Derek’s eyes. He knows it’s not disappearing though, it’s just settled now that it connected its targets. Derek glances between the three people -- the dark-haired girl whose father is frowning at the steering wheel when he sees her dimpled smile aimed across the lot, the tall boy with the scarf around his neck and a faint scar across his cheek, and the boy with the messy dark hair who’s pulling out an inhaler next to a bicycle -- and surprise courses through his veins again. He heard about triads, about connections between more than two people, but it’s the first time he’s seen it happen himself. 

_ Laura _ , he thinks,  _ Laura would’ve thought it’s amazing _ . 

His heart stutters at the thought, as always when he thinks about his sister who fell victim to an attack barely a year earlier. She was the one to keep the Cupid line going, she was always meant to do this, to spread love and happiness. Derek was thrust into it because there was no one else left. 

As he watches the trio leave, he wonders if there’s a way out. He never signed up to be Cupid, never asked or was prepared for the responsibility and for the pain that it brought. It reminds him of Laura, of the family that he lost before -- some to Cupid connections, others to demons set on destroying love. 

There’s only one way out that he knows of, but he’s sure that isn’t in his fate. Without thinking, he rubs the string on his left wrist, the one that’s faded into a dull pink. He thought once that it would happen. It was his uncle Peter who was in charge of the bow at the time, temporary as that was. Derek thought he had it, but the arrow hit the target in all the wrong ways, and instead of bringing him joy it destroyed the girl. Only later did his mother tell Derek that if someone tries to connect those who aren’t supposed to it will destroy both -- one dies, the other lives to suffer the pain of the loss. It was then that Derek decided to never try to look again.

He packs up the bow that’s silently humming in content, and he glances around the parking lot one more time. His lips turn up a little, the magic of the connection he just helped create finally hitting him. 

There’s still a lone Jeep in the middle of the lot when Derek moves to leave, light blue and battered, like it’s seen better days and several owners. Derek thinks nothing of it as he walks away, not noticing the way the string on his wrist begins to change colors. It pulses a little when it settles on a warm red, but not enough to pull Derek’s attention away from the memories of Laura he’s drowning in. Instead, Derek leaves to his next assignment, the red line from his wrist trailing behind him, the other end unattached for now.

A while later, a skinny boy with a buzzcut climbs into the blue Jeep and drives away.

**Author's Note:**

>   
> [my tumblr](http://froggydarren.tumblr.com/) || [my sterek fic tumblr](http://triggeringthehealing.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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